Laurel Matsuda was born and raised in Southern Ontario, Canada. After an eye- and mind-opening family trip to Southeast Asia at 15, and participating in an educational exchange program in Indonesia between high school and college, she pursued and obtained a Bachelor of International Studies degree. Laurel loves to travel, and although she does more of it vicariously now than she used to, she hopes to inspire in her students both a love for learning and a curiosity to learn more about the world.

Laurel moved to Hawaiʻi after graduating, got married and started a family. She has two children who have given her a new love and respect for the way children learn and develop. So she chose a career that allows her to pursue her own love of learning, inspire it in others, and spend as much time with her own children as possible. Laurel has a Master of Arts degree in Education and is certified to teach by the State of Hawaiʻi. She loves teaching because she learns something new every day and because she enjoys the challenge of helping children to learn, grow, and make connections to the world they live in.

Laurel was once warned that she would never get rich as a teacher, but she believes that being rich is about more than money. The lessons she learns from her students and the time she spends with her own children make her life very rich indeed.